


Visit

by CosmicCove



Series: Just the Three of Us [3]
Category: Epithet Erased (Cartoon)
Genre: Ghost uncles are CANON!, M/M, so its all just bleeeehg, sorry - Freeform, thank you brender blaber for my life, wrote half of this in major writers block in the other half at midnight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:20:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22399234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicCove/pseuds/CosmicCove
Summary: Between Giovanni and his uncles, Sylvie might as well have three dads.
Relationships: Dirk Chappy/Carlton Blubbs
Series: Just the Three of Us [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1583299
Comments: 4
Kudos: 67





	Visit

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so I can't find the link but Jello confirmed on Tumblr that Sylvie has uncles and they love him lots and like???? They need to be a part of the series. So I made this over the course of two months because writer's block hit me like a t r a i n but it needed to be done. Also it's one in the morning and I don't want to proof read, so that will happen when it happens. Might not seem completely consistant until I make revisions either because of the gaps between writing. Sorry.

Usually, when Giovanni arrived at home, things were quiet. In fact, he couldn’t count the number of times the front room looked exactly the same he had left it when he returned. Sylvie spent most of his time in his room, and although Sylvie got back from work at 5, significantly earlier than Giovanni’s 7:30, unless you knew Sylvie was home, you’d have guessed the house was empty, and had been for hours. Even balancing college classes and a 3:30 to 7:30 part time job, Giovanni wouldn’t have minded tidying up a bit. There was never anything to clean, though. Sylvie would make the house look neat while Giovanni was still at work, which honestly was a small task given how little space there was, and how messes where small. Then, he’d go into his room and work on whatever psychology project he had to work on. As quiet as a mouse.  
Tonight was not one of those nights. In fact, it seemed the most chaotic Giovanni had ever seen Sylvie. Sylvie was rushing around the kitchen, trying to scrape together a meal with the little food they have. “Thank goodness you’re home!” Sylvie exclaimed, running towards Giovanni as soon as he stepped inside, “My uncle called. He’s coming over for dinner, and I didn’t have anything prepared!”  
Giovanni’s eyes narrowed. “Your uncle? He’s not like your parents, is he?” he asked apprehensively.  
Sylvie’s eyes widened. “No, no, no!” He quickly explained, “Uncle Dirk is the only family who actually cares for me. Well, of my blood family anyways. He knows where I am, and he doesn’t tell my parents, and checks up on me regularly. I try and make him feel welcome when I can, because he’s done so much for me, but tonight I have very little time and I’m at my wits end!”  
“Sh,” Giovanni cooed gently, putting his hand on Sylvie’s shoulder, “We can do this. I’m pretty good at cooking, remember?”  
“Why do you think I asked you for help?”  
Giovanni blushed faintly. “Ah, well… Let’s get started. What do we have to work with, and how long do we have?”  
“He’ll be here around 9-ish. He always gets here rather late, especially when he wants to bring Uncle Carlton too.”  
“Who’s Uncle Carlton?”  
“His husband.”  
“Oh, so we’re cooking for four?”  
“No, Uncle Carlton really doesn’t eat. He’s a ghost.”  
Giovanni laughed. “I know that kind of relative!”  
“What? No, I mean-”  
“We really need to get moving, Sylv! If he’ll be here at 9 and it’s probably 7:40 right now, we have roughly 70 minutes to put something together. What do we have to work with?”  
Sylvie sighed, defeated, “Okay, yeah. Let’s focus on the task at hand. We really don’t have anything to work with, though.”  
Giovanni thought for a second, then pulled out the only pan from the cabinet. He used his epithet to fill it up with his signature tomato soup. “Do you remember how I told you to prepare this?”  
“Let simmer. Around 20 minutes, add pepper and bay leaf. Continue to simmer another 20 minutes, and stir. Remove from stove. Remove bay leaves with spoon,” Sylvie recited with a grin. Giovanni had been teaching him how to cook things for himself, and he was so excited to learn!  
“Correct!” Giovanni praised, “You are a star pupil. Now, I’m going to need you to do that while I run to the store. You think you can hold down the fort?”  
“Yes!” Sylvie eagerly exclaimed.  
“Okay then, you get that all set, and we’ll have a meal worthy of your uncles, just you wait and see, Sylv!” Giovanni walked out of the room and went into his own to change out of his work uniform.  
Sylvie was in the kitchen alone. It felt like a test, really, and he was great at those! He placed the pot of soup carefully onto the stove top and turned on the burner. He set his phone timer to count to twenty minutes. Now, he had to wait. Feeling a bit jittery, he decided to pull up a video on his phone to watch. He opened up a video from his favorite psychology page and watched it with a smile. Most of the information was basic, meant for the general public, and not a psychologist with a degree, but he still enjoyed it.  
He heard the front door close over the quiet droning of his phone. "Bye," he stated, and then felt silly because there was no one there to hear him. The video made time seem to pass quicker, and he jumped when his phone's timer rang at him. He gathered up bay leaves from the bag that Giovanni kept in the cabinet. He plucked the pepper shaker off the shelf it sat upon, and placed it near the stove as he carefully inserted three bay leaves into the soup. Then , he sprinkled pepper on top. Then, he reached into the silverware drawer and pulled out a large wooden spoon. He reset his phone timer and continued his video as he stirred the soup for the remaining twenty minutes.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Meanwhile at the supermarket, Giovanni looked around for things that would be easy and fast to prepare. He wandered over to the bakery selection of the store, and began perusing the selection of deserts there. There were cookies, cakes, and all kinds of pastries. The scent of warm bread filled the air, and made everything seem appetizing. He knew, however that there were many types of people who liked all sorts of sweets, so better to rely on statistics instead of his nose. Giovanni was not ever the kind to shy away from baking, and when he was still in elementary school, he participated in many bake sale fundraisers for the fun of it. He knew what appealed to the majority of people. When it came to cookies, chocolate chip would win over the most people, and when it came to cake, the wised choice was to make half white and half chocolate and pray that one flavor didn’t run out before the other. With pies, many people had different personal favorites, but there were certain flavors that the vast majority agreed was good even if not the very best. In his experience, apple and pumpkin were popular flavors and were best for parties and bake sales.  
Speaking of sales, he found that the table hosting the pies was covered in for sale signs. “50% off all pies!” Read thick black text against white, jagged shapes outlined in red. Most of the pies that had been on the table had already been purchased. He found that two cherry, one blueberry, a few huckberry (an unrightfully underrated flavor), and a singular pumpkin remained. He snatched up the pumpkin pie, careful not to damage it, but quickly and firmly, like if he wasn’t quick enough someone might steal it away. He left out a breath of relief as soon as he placed it in his basket.  
What would work in a meal including tomato soup and pumpkin pie..? Of course, it had to be a side dish. The soup was the main course, so whatever it would be, it had to be light. Something small, tasty but not satisfying alone. The produce aisle caught his eye, and an idea entered his mind. He grabbed a couple of shiny red apples, a box of blueberries, and a small box of strawberries.  
He checked the time on his clock. It read 8:30. So, he had thirty minutes still, give or take! Then again, he still had to prepare the food. He carried his basket to the self check-out. He scanned the blueberries, strawberries, and the pie, and bagged them with the apples. He could never get the stupid apples to scan correctly when he came here, so he began to steal them instead of buying them.  
Giovanni took his two bags of food and returned to his car. He wondered what exactly Sylvie's uncle was like. Sylvie had said that his uncle was nicer than his parents, but Giovanni knew that it didn't take a lot to be better than them. He worried that Sylvie's uncle might not actually be as nice as Sylvie made him out to be. Giovanni reminded himself that, despite Sylvie's parents' behavior, if Sylvie's uncle had indeed married someone timid so much that they were called a ghost, maybe his uncle really wasn't a bad guy.   
He arrived back at the apartment building, and half-walked, half-ran to apartment 105, in both eagerness to show Sylvie what food he had bought them, and because they were short on time. Luckily, what needed to be prepared would be quick. He opened the door, where he saw Sylvie taking the soup off the stove. “Ah, you’re just in time!” Sylvie said cheerfully. Giovanni smiled because Sylvie seemed way less stressed than he had before, and they were making excellent time. “What did you get?”  
Giovanni beamed with pride. “I, Giovanni Potage, have got us this!” He reached into the bag and dramatically yet carefully held it up in the air, “Pumpkin pie! For desert, of course!”  
Sylvie ooh-ed as he gazed at the pie. “How did you know that me and Uncle Dirk love pumpkin?” he asked.  
“It’s popular,” Giovanni replied with a shrug.  
“True,” Sylvie commented, “What else do you have?”  
Giovanni pulled out the fruits and laid them out on the counter. “It’s going to be fruit salad. My mom’s girlfriend makes it a lot, and her’s is very good, so I want to try it out.”  
Sylvie approached the counter. “What are we going to need to make it?”  
“Well, I need to wash them off first and foremost,” Giovanni answered, “But while I do that, get out a plate or small bowl and a knife.”  
“On it!” Sylvie told him. He turned around and went to the drawer that held the silverware, as Giovanni began to wash the fruit, beginning with the strawberries, moving on the blueberries, and finally ending with the apples. Sylvie selected a plate, since he only really had three bowls to begin with, and three people would be eating that evening. He brought the plate and knife to the counter just as Giovanni returned with the fruit, now glistening with water, nice and clean. Giovanni grabbed a handful of blueberries and dropped it onto the plate, and then did the same with a second handful. Then, he began to cut off the leafy tops of the strawberries. “When I’m done, can you please throw these away?” he asked Sylvie, gesturing to the strawberry tops piled up on the corner of the plate.  
“Yeah,” Sylvie answered, with a happy-to-help smile.  
“And… Done!” Giovanni stated when the last strawberry had its leaves chopped off. Sylvie nabbed the leaf stubs and dumped them into the trash and Giovanni began cutting the strawberries into quarters down the middle. When he had finished, he scattered the strawberry bits in with the blueberries. Then, he used the knife to haphazardly hack into the apple. It didn’t work quite as well as he had hoped, but it could have been worse. He made sure the tough core and seeds stayed out of the fruit salad, although the poor excuse for apple slices were uneven, lined with jagged knife marks. He shrugged his lackluster apple slicing skills off and divided the slices in two as well. He strewed them about the rest of the fruit salad, and all put together you could hardly tell the small chunks of apple had been roughly sawed off their core. He tossed out the mutilated remains of the cores, along with a few stray seeds.  
“Tada! Fruit salad! Not as good as my mom’s girlfriend, but probably good enough!” Giovanni gestured grandly at the plate with a nervous smile.  
“Wow! Great job!” Sylvie praised, “If only I could do that. I guess food just isn’t for me, but you should pursue a career in cooking.”  
Giovanni shrugged with a blush. “I am considering going to culinary school someday, but my mom says college first. College degrees can cover more than a specialized degree, after all.”  
Sylvie waved his hand, as if warding the words off. “When it comes to a job, I say follow your heart. I did, and I’m super happy.”  
“You’re one of a lucky few who succeeded at that,” Giovanni pointed out with a shake of his head.  
“If more people were confident in their abilities, they’d take the leap,” Sylvie responded, “It’s you. You should be more confident in yourself.”  
“It’s not that I’m not confident, it’s that I need a plan B just in case it doesn’t work out,” Giovanni sighed, “You know the saying: hope for the best, prepare for the worst.”  
Sylvie nodded, humming “mhm.”  
“Whatever. Set the table or something.”  
Sylvie placed plates and bowls around the table, in front of three chairs, leaving a fourth chair pulled up to the table but left bare. “Oh, um… I was trying to tell you, but I think you misunderstood. About my uncle Carlton, when I said he was a ghost-”  
Before he could finish, there was a knock on the door. “I’ll get it!” Giovanni called.  
“No, wait! This is important!” Sylvie yelled after him.  
Giovanni didn’t listen. “Hello,” Giovanni greeted, “It’s nice to meet-” Who he was looking at finally processed, and he stopped dead in his tracks. Behind the scientist looking man who was, apparently, Sylvie’s uncle, floated a ghost.  
“Oh no…” Sylvie muttered behind him.  
The color drained from Giovanni’s face. “Hello,” the man replied, sounding unsure, but trying to hide it.  
Sylvie walked over from the kitchen to stand besides Giovanni at the door. “Hello, Uncle Dirk. Don’t mind him, that’s just Giovanni.”  
The scientist held out his hand. “Doctor Dirk Chappy.”  
Giovanni shook his hand, with a faint “Giovanni Potage.”  
“If you don’t mind telling me, Sylvester, who is he to you?” Doc Chappy asked, gesturing to Giovanni.  
“He’s my roomate right now,” Sylvie explained.  
Doc Chapy looked Giovanni over, then smiled. “Well, he seems like a very nice young man. Although, I would prefer it if he’d stop staring at my husband.”  
“O-Oh,” Giovanni stuttered, looking down hastily, “I’m sorry. I just wasn’t expecting… Well… He’s a-  
“A ghost, I know,” Doc Chappy finished with a shrug, “Comes with the profession.”  
Giovanni went wide-eyed. “What profession.”  
“Ghost hunting.”  
“You hunt ghosts!” Giovanni exclaimed. Doc Chappy laughed in response to the boy’s shock.  
“That’s what I was trying to tell you!” Sylvie yelled, throwing up his arms in exasperation. Doc Chapy laughed even harder at his nephew’s reaction. Even Carlton giggled quietly.  
“Um,” Giovanni stammered, “Nice to meet you also.” He extended a hand to Carlton. Carton stared at it, looking both surprised and confused, before taking his hand and giving it a small shake. Giovanni smiled nervously at Carlton, who smiled back, appearing equally nervous, to Giovanni’s surprise.  
“He’s a bit shy,” Doc Chappy informed him casually, “But enough with the introductions. I’m hungry. Sylvester, I’m sure you’ve prepared something, as usual.”  
Sylvie nodded. “We did, actually. Both of us.”  
“Ah, that makes sense. Thank you, Sylvester.” Doc Chappy turned to Giovanni, “Thank you as well.”  
“You’re welcome.”  
Doc Chappy turned back to Sylvie. “Shall we eat?”  
“Yes!” Sylvie answered with a grin. He ran into the kitchen.  
Carlton floated over to his husband, and whispered. “Yes, you’re quite right,” Doc Chappy muttered back.  
“What did he say?” Giovanni asked.  
“He said that Sylvie seemed to be in higher spirits than usual tonight, which I’ve noticed too. I wonder what’s got him so cheerful? Well, it doesn’t matter, as long as he’s happy.”  
“High spirits you say?” Giovanni asked playfully. Carlton giggled softly again.  
“Yes. And the pun was intended.”  
“I figured,” Giovanni stated.  
Carlton just grinned cheekily.  
The three entered the kitchen, where Sylvie had just finished preparing everyone’s plates. “Oh, this looks fantastic!” Doc Chappy exclaimed as he sat down in the chair next to the chair with no food in front of it. Carlton descended into the chair next to him, not sitting so much as hovering over the seat as if he were seated. Sylvie sat across from his uncle, with Giovanni sitting next to him. Doc Chappy took a bite of his soup. “It tastes just as great as it looks! You boys have really outdone yourselves!”  
“Well, it was mostly Giovanni, actually,” Sylvie pointed out.  
Giovanni shot back, “What! No, you did most of it!”  
Doc Chappy laughed. “Boys, no matter who did more, you both worked together, and both deserve equal credit.”  
“That doesn’t sound very fair to the person who did more, Uncle Dirk.”  
Doc Chappy took another bite and shrugged. “You guys don’t know who did more work anyways.”  
“I suppose that’s true,” Sylvie decided.  
There was an awkward silence afterwards. “So, how’s work been?” Doc Chappy asked.  
“Good,” Sylvie replied.  
Not really open to more conversation. Giovanni glanced around the room, trying to think of something to talk about. His eyes rolled from Carlton to Doc Chappy, and back. “So, how did you two meet?” he asked.  
Doc Chappy and Carlton exchanged a loving glance. He began to explain, “Well, I’m a ghost hunter, as I have told you earlier, and I was trying to catch a particularly hard to get ghost I heard was haunting a town. This town was besides a sizable swamp, which was where they said the ghost came from. I assumed I would be dealing with a will-o-wisp, but I was wrong. It was him.” Doc Chappy pointed at Carlton, “When I first laid eyes on him, I knew I couldn’t go through with it. It was the classic ‘my work or my love?’ situation.” He finished the story with a chuckled. Carlton smiled fondly and nodded.  
“So it was love a first sight?” Giovanni asked.  
“Yep,” Carlton peeped.  
By the time the story had ended, dinner was almost over. “You actually believe it was love at first sight, Uncle Dirk?” Sylvie asked, “Isn’t that fake?”  
Doc Chappy laughed with a shrug. “What else could it have been? I know you have your studies and everything else involved with psychology that says it’s not true, but I know it was.”  
“Wow,” Sylvie breathed, eye wide with wonder in spite of what he knew.  
“Wait, you didn’t believe in love at first sight?” Giovanni asked, dumbfounded.  
Sylvie turned to him, looking suddenly very serious. “Yes. According to all studies in my psychology classes, it is impossible to fall in love at first sight. Although, a part of me has always believed there were acceptions.”  
“Huh. I didn’t know that.”  
“What are you planning on majoring in, Giovanni?” Doc Chappy asked.  
“Uh, well… I haven’t really decided yet. I’m a college freshman, and I haven’t really decided yet. I’m thinking about culinary arts or something, but I’m not so sure…”  
“Go for it.”  
“What?”  
“I said go for it!” Doc Chappy repeated, “You are obviously very talented, the proof is right here in this meal. You can’t be indecisive forever. If that’s what you’re passionate about, pursue it with all you have in you!”  
Giovanni could almost hear Sylvie’s words from earlier echoing in his uncle’s. It never occurred to him that maybe Sylvie had to have been encouraged to go into Psychology. He was just so passionate about it and his job as a therapist. If his uncle hadn’t been there, would Sylvie have ever became a therapist, or even chosen to major in psychology? Sure, Sylvie’s parents had been the main reason he had pushed himself academically, but the more time Giovanni spent with Doc Chappy, the more Giovanni was certain he was the main reason Sylvie had any confidence at all.  
“You know, maybe I will. I will finish my college classes, then I’ll go to culinary school. I’ve made up my mind,” Giovanni decided.  
“Thatta boy!” Doc Chappy exclaimed, giving him a thumbs up.  
The three finished up their meals shortly after. They all put the dishes in the sink together, and even though Carlton couldn’t pick up the dishes physically, he followed them back and forth between the sink and the table with a helpful smile. When it was all finished, Doc Chappy turned to Sylvie. “Well, my boy, I think I will we will be heading out.”  
Sylvie ran up to his uncle and hugged him tightly. “Thank you for visiting, Uncle Dirk!” he chimed with a large smile.  
“Yes, well, before you go, Carlton is very interested in that lizard of yours. Why don’t you go show him?”  
Carlton bounced up and down in excitement in response.  
“Yeah!” Sylvie yelled in excitement, “Come on, I’ll introduce you to Lev! And Leaf, too. That’s Giovanni’s frog.”  
The boy and the ghost disappeared into the bedroom Sylvie and Giovanni shared.  
“Hmm,” The doctor hummed, deep in thought. He turned to Giovanni. “Giovanni, won’t you follow me outside? It won’t be long.”  
Giovanni gave Doc Chappy a confused look, but agreed with a wary, “Alright.”  
Doc Chappy lead him outside, without another word. The night air nipped at their skin, a sharp reminder that they were in mid-winter. Giovanni grimaced and drew his arms around him in an attempt at warmth, but Doc Chappy smiled and inhaled deeply, embracing the frigid air. Midnight was soon approaching, and he seemed like a crazy person to Giovanni. Then again, maybe he was; he was a ghost hunter who married a ghost he had fallen for on the job, after all, which did sound strangely romantic to Giovanni, now that he thought about it. Okay, now maybe he was going crazy, too. Giovanni noticed his thoughts beginning to drift and collected himself, glancing at Doc Chappy. The doctor was gazing up at the sky, looking equally as spaced out as Giovanni had been.  
“You’re wondering why I asked you out here,” Doc Chappy stated, sounding less like a question and more like a conviction. Giovanni couldn’t deny it was true though.  
“Yes,” he answered.  
Doc Chappy chuckled. “An honest boy. You know, my sister would have insisted she knew even if she had no idea.” He paused. “I suppose so would my nephew. Sylvie takes after his mother very much.”  
Giovanni tilted his head curiously. “He does?”  
Doc Chappy nodded, with a smile that fluctuated between sad and nostalgic. “It’s not a good thing.”  
“Oh.”  
“That’s why he needs someone like you to show him the way,” Doc Chappy told him, “No matter what acts of crime you have or haven’t committed- Yes, Sylvie told me you’re a criminal- you get him to care for himself. I’ve been trying that just short of ten years, with little success, and then you come along and do it in a month!”  
Giovanni took in a breath to respond, but couldn’t think of a proper thing to say. “I’m sorry.”  
Doc Chappy laughed again. “No need to apologize! Just because you were able to do something I couldn’t doesn’t mean I’m upset. No, I was beginning to think talking some proper sense into that boy was impossible. Not after everything my sister and her husband put him through.” There was another pause, and Giovanni felt that maybe he should say something, but once again the words wouldn’t come to him. Doc Chappy continued, “If I’m honest, I’ve been worried about Sylvester to no end. I was beginning to think he’d never be happy. Not really. But now you’re here. There’s no way to thank you for what you’ve done. He’s sleeping every night now. He’s eating properly. And seeing that really just…” He put a hand up to his face, concealing tears that he hastily wiped away. “I’m overwhelmed in a good way.”  
“Well, Dr. Chappy, I’m glad I’m helping. Sylvie is… An interesting boy. We, frankly, got off on the wrong foot at first, but I’m glad that we managed to find understanding between each other. There’s this girl, her name is Molly, and she also helped him. In fact, if it weren’t for her, this whole arrangement-” He indicated towards the apartment building with his hand in a circular motion, “It wouldn’t have happened.”  
Doc Chappy smiled. “My thanks goes to her as well. Repeat the name?”  
“Molly. Molly Blyndeff.”  
The doctor nodded with a gentle smile, “Yes, Sylvie mentioned her many times over the phone. He was so excited, when we first talked after the incident in the museum. He called me up and told me about it. The very first thing he told me was ‘Uncle Dirk! I have a friend!’ It was the sweetest thing,” Doc Chappy chuckled, “You were there, weren’t you? You were the jerk with the soup!” He laughed again, loudly.  
Giovanni laughed with him. “Yeah. That was me.” He thought about that a bit longer. “Did he say anything else? About me, I mean.  
Doc Chappy shrugged. “I’m not sure what he would be okay with me sharing. I’ve probably said too much already. Our chats are pretty special.”  
“Oh,” Giovanni remarked, a lilt of disappointment in his voice.  
“If it means anything to you, he told me he was wrong about you,” Doc Chappy told him, “You were nice, not mean.”  
“I don’t blame him for feeling like that at first, though. I wasn’t exactly kind at first.”  
“Don’t let it get to you. You are the kind of person who needs to warm up to someone.”  
“Mm.”  
“Well,” Doc Chappy started nonchalantly, “It’s cold, and I’m tired. You go back. Carlton and I have got to start heading home, so I’m going to get the car started and wait for him there. Thanks for talking with me.”  
“No problem, Dr. Chappy.”  
“Mm, I see you’re a good kid. To your friends, at least. Maybe not to the places you steal from. Don’t worry. I’m exceptional at keeping secrets,” Doc Chappy grinned and winked at him.  
“I’ll keep him safe. I promise.”  
“I know.”  
The two went there separate ways, the doctor into the dark and out of sight, and Giovanni into the warm apartment building. He returned to room 105.  
“Where were you?” Sylvie asked as he closed the door.  
“Just seeing your uncle out. He’s waiting for you in the car, Carlton.”  
Carlton drifted towards the door. “Thanks for everything,” Carlton called timidly as he phased through the door.  
“What did you and Uncle Dirk talk about?” Sylvie asked.  
“Just about you. He really likes to talk about how great a nephew you are.”  
“That’s super awesome,” Sylvie said with a tired smile. He yawned.  
“Come on, Sylv, Let’s go to bed. It’s late.”  
“Yeah, alright.”


End file.
